Operating temperature.

Tom W

Active Member
What temperature should a 2200TC run at? I've just got mine back on the road and I think it might be running a bit warm. The gauge sits just over half way normally, rising to about 2/3rds in traffic. This in itself doesn't worry me, but after sitting in traffic for a little while, the engine becomes very hesitant to pull and missfires (vapour lock?) It settles down again after a short run. It's never got near the end of the gauge or boiled over, even in this very hot weather.

I've replaced the thermostat and renewed the coolant. I haven't flushed the system yet, besides running fresh water through it before refilling with antifreeze mix. I have some slick50 coolant flush, but that seems quite unkind to the engine to use. You have to add the flush then drain the system when hot, then with the engine running add new coolant. I'm not sure about running it without coolant, even for a few seconds, or adding cold coolant to a hot engine. I'm trying to avoid taking the side plates off if possible, it looks like quite an involved job.
 
I have not had experience with a 2200, but I do own 2 x 2000's. One is a 2000 automatic, which is in Australia. I run this on a 160 degree F thermostat, with a 6 blade fan, in Australia. I recently flushed out the system with some muck out type stuff. I would let it cool down for 20 mins or so after running it, then drain out the plug in the rear of the block, and bottom of the radiator, then run again with the softest water that I have, then drain, then refill with coolant. I normally fill the radiator up, with the heater on. Then start the car, when the motor warms up and the thermostat opens, the coolant level will drop rapidly. You then need to top the system off. I got a good result with this. The car generally runs about one third gauge, going up to half gauge in traffic on a hot day.

The Rover recommendation for coolant for the 2000 motor I believe is a 33 percent mixture. Running a higher concentration of glycol than is required for freeze protection in the winter will make you car run warmer, as the coolant will circulate slower, and glycol is quite viscous, and because glycol has a lower specific heat capacity than water. 33% will give frost protection down to -18 degrees C.

My Rover 2000 TC which is in the USA in upstate NY, I run a 180 degree thermostat, with 50 percent glycol. It can get down to -24 degrees C in winter, and I do not want a cracked block when I go to get the car out for the summer driving season. I found that with 160 degree thermostat the car tended to foul plugs. The TC motor runs cooler than the 2000 automatic. This motor has no emissions control. If you can get away with removing, or blocking off your emissions control then you may want to do this, as this will make the motor run cooler. But remember, you must not do anything illegal, unless there is an advantage, or at least that is what one of my college lecturers used to say!

The 2200 motor recommendation for thermostat was 182 degrees F. You may want to get a 6 blade fan for the car. Also check that you fan is fitted on the correct way. It is easy to fit them so they blow from the engine bay into the radiator. This does not work well. I believe that the Rover Club of Canada has some 6 blade fans. The other path to go is Kenlow, but this does interfere with the historical integrity of the car. Also check that your radiator is clean of dead bugs etc.

James
 
Just a couple of remarks James.

In a P6 heater the coolant circulates through the matrix constantly. The changeover from cold to hot and the opposite is achieved by moving flaps that direct the airflow through the matrix or out of it. Thus, operating the heater levers will make no difference on how the coolant circulates into the system.

The engine driven radiator fan can be fitted the other way around, but it will still pull air through the radiator. It won't be as efficient though. The concave side of the blades should be facing the engine. This is a common mistake on Minis, that results in overheating.

Demetris
 
I feel these cars will always run hotter than normal in heavy traffic with standard cooling system as they just were not built to do 5+ miles at 10mph for 30 mins. Mine has a new engine with about 10k on it now and last summer stuck in traffic on the A3 she got hot. Not boiled over but hotter than I would have liked. Since then i've removed the fixed fan and put in a big electric fan. She now sits at half way all day long. Got stuck behind some very slow (sub 20mph) traffic most of the way from work to home, it was a very hot day and she was behaved perfectley. Others have had simular results just adding an expansion tank effectively giving you a full rad all the time and have also reported good manners in heavy traffic so unlike some old cars that need heavy mods the p6 4 pot seems to do fine with a few tweaks.

Like yours mine did get a bit ruff when she got a bit too hot last year. Mainly pinking. Was fine once the traffic got moving again.
 
Mine sits just left of centre whilst moving and if I sit in heavy traffic in the heat we've had lately it'll change to just right of centre. No pinking or roughness :)
(edited to say, my 2200TC. Ignore my user name for this post :wink: )
 
I'm going to drain and flush the system again, as I feel it is running a little warm. I've ended up with a stronger antifreeze concentrate than recommended too. I followed the manual advice and added water first, followed by antifreeze, then top up with water. Problem was, the thing was full by the time I'd got the antifreeze in, so it never got topped up with water. Either I'd not managed to drain it fully, or some crud is reducing the capacity. This time I'll premix my antifreeze and water, so I know what strength it is before it goes in.
 
Hi Tom. That reads as a bit of a warning. If you followed he drain down procedure and measured the quantities added, that implies you really do need to take the side plates off. Remember that this exercise is not only about where your temperature gauge sits. That's just a flag to give you the clue something might be awry. The consequence of leaving large amounts of crud at the bottom of the block waterspace is that the bottoms of the cylinders won't be getting cooled properly. They will therefore be a different size and / or shape to that which the Rover God intended. Bore wear or blow by beckon.

Chris
 
This is what I was slightly worried about. Thing is the my drive is on a slight slope so it might not have been completely empty when I drained it, and I wasn't particularly accurate over the amount of water and antifreeze I put in, mainly guessing based on the size of the container I was pouring from, so I could have slightly more in there than I expected. I'm still planning a flush and refill, and I will measure how much coolant I can get in there. That should give me an indication of how restricted the water jacket is. I'll be doing this on my parent's drive which is level, and also using the garden hose to flush things through further.

If this doesn't improve things, then it's side plates off time, but it seems sensible to try everything else first before dismantling everything.

How big a job is it to remove the side plates? The one on the passenger side looks particularly difficult to reach, being hidden behind the manifolds. Do the engine mounts need removing to get them off?
 
Carbs, exhaust manifold and engine mounting bracket off on the n/s, engine mounting bracket and oil pipe on the o/s IIRC. You can support the engine and have both mountings removed at the same time. Not particularly easy to get at some of the bolts, but do-able in-situ.
 
Kiwi Rover posted some photos when he did his side plates. Here are some links.

http://s578.photobucket.com/albums/ss22 ... 150277.jpg

http://s578.photobucket.com/albums/ss22 ... 287.jpg%26

I think if you have the time then it is well worth doing. You may want to at least have new side plates on hand. or available locally, in case you find out upon removal that the plates you have, have a corrosion issue. This kind of scared me off doing mine Rover in Australia, as I was only in Australia for 3 weeks, and wanted to do some driving in it.

James.
 
I did have a similar problem with my 2000SC in New Zealand when I was younger. Eventually I replaced the side plates and cleared down all the gunk that was inside. I also never used to have a thermostat in the summer to keep the water running as much as possible..

Never boiled over once after that.
 
I am afraid that it's not a good idea to leave the thermostat completely out. Without one, the water will not circulate as it should, and the front cylinders will tend to run cooler, while the rear ones will be considerably hotter. Not a good thing. At the same time, the temperature sender (which is at the front...) will keep telling you that all is well. Unfortunately not.

Demetris
 
Wow that had a LOT of sludge in it!

It certainly did! It ran very hot too but i STILL haven't quite got around to putting it all back together to see if it fixed the problem. :( It just needs some minor bits refitting like the starter, radiator, choke cables etc.. but I have been a bit busy with other projects. :D
 
After a run out in the hot weather today, it seems just the same as before. I'm not sure there's much wrong with it actually. Now I've managed to drain the block too, it takes a sensible amount of coolant to fill it up, so it can't be that sludged. The temp gauge never goes above 2/3rds round, even sitting in traffic in the baking heat. Most of the time it's half way, which I would assume is the normal operating temperature. I'm going to try removing the cold start flexi pipe from the exhaust to intake, see if I can establish if that's working correctly.
 
Not sure if this helps but I'm running a 2000SC and my gauge always sits halfway between the end of the blue segment and 85. When in traffic and/or on hot days like today (30+deg) it sits bang on 85.
I replaced a side plate last year on the O/S and the amount of crud build up inside around the liners was of epic proportions. The problem I had was that the side plate was slightly porous and was de-pressurising the system causing it to run hotter. I was losing about 1" of coolant from the rad filler neck every 2wks which at first didn't seem that serious but I thought warranted some investigation especially given the temp gauge had started to rise. It was a bit fiddly to get at all the casing bolts but if you have a selection of the correct spanners to hand there will be one that'll do the job, just make sure you give yourself some time as it's time consuming. Also I had to remove the engine mount and I used a jack to support the weight of the engine so as not to hurt anything and ease of reassembly getting the mounting bolt back through. After I put it all together I checked all the engine/trans alignment and all was where I left it.
 
How easy was it to remove all the sludge with just one side plate off? If I take the near side plate off I'll need to take the exhaust manifold off and that will mean cutting off the bodged exhaust (it's been welded into the manifold :shock: ). None of this is a problem, and the exhaust needs fixing, but I can't afford a new exhaust just yet. :(
 
I took the offside plate off of mine, and with a number of bottle brushes, some scrap steel (about 1mm?)sheet cut into suitable shapes and one of those pressurised plant sprayer bottles I got all the nasties out. Watch out for the tap at the back of the block they have a habit of breaking I'm told, I tend to drain my car using the radiator lower hose and open the rad drain tap to get the last dregs out.
And one more thing I used to get the sludge out was a mirror from an old van to see what crud was in there and to shine some light into the block just to make sure it was all gone, I didn't think it was a hard job, just a bit time consuming. Well worth bringing a packed lunch and a few ready made roll-ups :D . Good luck with it.
 
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